It’s Not Normal: Persistent Pain

There are many issues facing older adults that are common, but should not be considered inevitable. This blog will launch a series for 2014, all bundled under the general heading of “It’s Not Normal”. Over the next year, I intend to cover a variety of topics that include dementia, incontinence, falls and depression. If you have suggestions for this series, please leave a comment.

The kick-off for this series is pain. While pain is common as we age, it should never be considered “normal”. Pain should always be discussed with your healthcare provider, so that he or she can help determine the cause (or causes). Your healthcare provider can then help you figure out an approach to remove or reduce both the pain and the affect it has on your life.

Acute pain is pain that has happened recently and usually has a known cause. An example of this is a sprained ankle. A few weeks of ice, rest and over the counter pain medications (such as acetaminophen) is usually all that is required for relief to occur.

Chronic or persistent pain, however, is more of a problem. You may have had this pain for some time and the direct cause may not be known. There are different kinds of chronic pain. These include:

pain from nerves, such as diabetic neuropathy or pain from a stroke

joint or bone pain such as arthritis or gout

some kinds of internal pain, such as abdominal pain from Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Managing your persistent pain requires telling your healthcare provider a complete history, including how much pain you have, what makes the pain better or worse, and what the pain feels like.. Some pain is very hard to describe. Be sure that your health care provider understands as best as possible, what it feels like to you. Words like “burning”, “aching” or “stabbing” will help guide our evaluation and treatment.

In Geriatric Medicine, we are very concerned about how your condition affects your quality of life. We will want to know if your pain affects your ability to do the things you love. Pain can worsen your sleep, prevent you from exercising and cause depression. In fact, this can be looked at as a classic “vicious cycle”.

It is important that the cycle is interrupted in at least 2 spots. Medicine that reduces pain is important but it is also just as important to consider other approaches as well:

Sleep – adopt better sleeping habits that include reducing caffeine, using a dark room and taking pain medications before bed.

Activity – physical therapy can help to reduce pain, but so can daily exercise!

Depression – if your mood is affected, it is important to focus on this with counseling and/or medications.

If you are dealing with chronic pain, learn more by reviewing the Guide to Medications for Persistent Pain and be sure to see your healthcare provider as soon as you can. Because no one should live with pain. Remember, it’s Not Normal!

9 thoughts on “It’s Not Normal: Persistent Pain”

What an excellent, attention getting idea – “It’s Not Normal”. This should be helpful to many health professionals as well as lay people. It’s time we laid to rest forever the “Well, what do you expect at your age?” negative attitude that still exists in some quarters.
The topic chosen, persistent pain and that it can be helped, is of great importance for optimal health and function in older adults

This is so true! I also often hear from patients that they “don’t want to get hooked” on pain medicine, whether it’s for arthritis or nerve pain or something else. It is as if they are ashemed of being “weak” if they say they have pain. And it’s important to use other means like physical activity to improve pain, just like you would for your blood pressure or diabetes. But also just like those illnesses, you wouldn’t say that you are “hooked” on blood pressure or diabetes medication. It’s important to use pain medicine to help your body work properly, just like it is for any medical condition.

Even though I work in geriatrics, I find that as a caregiver I sometimes catch myself falling into the mindset of “well, afterall, my mother is 92 years old.” Being reminded that there is always something that can be done to help address my mother’s comfort, well-being and quality of life is tremendously helpful, especially when this information is from experts in geriatrics. I look forward to reading additional topics in this series and thank all the contributors to HealthinAging.org.

excellent reading but to get to see a doctor in the uk is very difficult and when you get to visit all you get is tablets and thats that.Im 79yrs of age very mobile but lately ive had a sore neck and the pain has gone to the side of my head and it feels like an open wound very sore to touch can this problem be treated by a safe way to get rid of the pain to comb your hair is very trying thanks podger78